


it was always you

by starlight_sugar



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1880268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_sugar/pseuds/starlight_sugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten moments where Steve realizes he's hopelessly in love with his lab partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it was always you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CryptoHomoRocker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptoHomoRocker/gifts).



> for the star-spangled exchange.  
> this is fell victim to my incorrigible fascination with prom. sorry about that.

1.

There’s a new kid in school and Steve is already sick of the whispers in the halls. He’s seen the boy once or twice: black clothes, hunched over, apparently can’t be prompted to talk. Natasha tells him that he went to boarding school in Russia but barely has an accent, that the rumor mill is calling him Winter because of it, that nobody knows his real name, that he’s got permanent bags under his eyes, and that he’s not moving to America so much as _back_ to America. Steve trusts her more than he trusts the rumor mill at large, and he’s still sort of incredulous.

“That sounds made up,” he says without thinking. He’s pretty sure he earns the glare he gets from her. Natasha’s information might be odd, but it’s very rarely made up and never wrong.

“Go to chemistry,” she answers instead of really replying. It’s the first day of fourth quarter and that means new lab partners. Steve is going to miss working with Sharon, sharp and clever as she is, but he’s curious about who he’ll end up with.

New kid is in Steve’s chemistry class when he arrives, hunched over in the corner and determinedly avoiding eye contact. Steve feels sharply sympathetic - the last two months of senior year is a shitty time to transfer anywhere, let alone onto another continent, and he remembers sitting alone in class all too well from a couple years ago - but before he can make up his mind to approach him or not, the bell is ringing, and Steve slides into his seat next to Sharon.

“New kid looks lonely,” she murmurs. “Wonder who he’ll partner with.”

“Hope it’s someone nice,” Steve answers honestly. High school is a terrible place to be alone and this kid looks like he could use a friend.

“Everyone, quiet down!” Mr. McCoy says, rather unnecessarily as everyone is already watching him with rapt attention. “It’s time for you to get your new lab partners. Don't get out of your seats until I’ve assigned everyone someone new. And I’m not repeating anything, so listen up.”

Steve sits patiently, waiting for his name. He’s only slightly disappointed when Sam, his only other friend in class, ends up with Jessica Drew, and Sharon looks excited enough to be working with Hank Pym. But Mr. McCoy goes through everyone he knows and even a couple of people he doesn’t and not Steve, until-

“And lastly, Mr. Rogers,” and Steve sits the smallest bit straighter at his name, and he can hear Sharon snort next to him, “you’ll be paired with Mr. Barnes.”

Excited murmurs ripple through the classroom, but Steve barely notices. The only Barnes he knows moved away eight years ago, after his parents were killed in a car crash. And it’s definitely not any of the kids he knows, so that leaves-

“What were you saying about the new kid getting a nice partner?” Sharon says, jostling his shoulder with her own. He has the presence of mind to smile at that before they’re moving seats, and his mind is racing because it can’t be him, it’s so unrealistic, it’s like something out of a movie, but he’s pretty sure that his childhood best friend is back.

Steve and probably-Bucky Barnes end up in the back corner of the classroom, as far away from people and Mr. McCoy as they could wrangle. He almost doubts that it’s Bucky now that they’re closer - his hair is long and greasy, hanging to his chin, and his shoulders are too hunched - but there’s no mistaking his eyes.

Steve isn’t sure what to do - what’s the etiquette for asking someone if they used to know you? - when almost-definitely-Bucky coughs and turns to Steve.

“You, uh,” he begins, coughs again, and starts over. “You probably don’t remember me, but-”

Steve laughs helplessly. “Nah, Buck. I remember you.”

Bucky blinks, startled, and his face brightens noticeably. “Oh,” he says. “Good. You got taller.”

“So did you,” Steve replies, instead of “I thought I was in love with you when we were kids and I’m beginning to wonder if I really was.”

Bucky… doesn’t quite smile, and Steve wonders what happened in the mythical boarding school in Russia that got Bucky to stop smiling, but he’s going to fix it. Somehow.

2.

Natasha, to her credit, does not react to the whispers when the new kid sits with them at lunch, instead turning to raise an eyebrow at Steve. “Adopting strays?”

“Hardly,” Steve mutters. Bucky is, he’s noticed, much, much too attractive to be a stray anything. “Nat, this is Bucky Barnes, he and I grew up together. Bucky, this is Natasha Romanoff.”

Natasha surveys Bucky coolly, taking in his hunched posture along with his steady eye contact. “Rumor has it you’re from Russia.”

Bucky’s shoulders tense slightly. “Rumor’s right.”

Natasha smirks; it’s only years of experience that enable Steve to tell that she’s actually delighted. She says something in Russian - a question, by the sound of it. Bucky’s face is absolutely priceless.

“Stevie,” he says wonderingly, “I think I’m in love.”

Steve has to laugh at that. “You gonna answer the lady?”

Five minutes later, when Sam sits down across from Steve, Bucky and Natasha are happily chattering away in Russian. Based on the gestures, Steve thinks they’re probably talking about him, and he wishes he could understand them.

“New kid looks excited,” Sam remarks, picking up his crappy-looking school burger.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees. Bucky’s eyes are bright, and his hands are wild as he talks. It’s kind of amazing to watch, really. “He does.”

3.

“Did you study for this test?” Steve whispers, feeling grievously underprepared. He’d studied for hours the night before, going over names of chemicals and reactions and heat transfer and everything else he could think of, and he’s still terrified.

Bucky looks at him like a deer in the headlights. “Yeah, but I think I’m still fucked,” he murmurs.

The two of them stare at each other in growing horror, until Steve realizes he’s started smiling, and Bucky’s smiling back. Neither of them even notice Mr. McCoy slapping two tests on their table.

“We’re screwed,” Steve says, trying to keep himself from laughing.

Bucky shrugs and offers a real grin, honest and blinding, before turning to his test. “At least we’re screwed together, right?”

4.

“H’lo?” Steve says, trying to push the sleep out of his voice. A glance at the clock tells him that it’s 3:17, and it’s Saturday, and he’d really been hoping to sleep in, but his phone had been so _loud._

There’s a moment of silence before the voice on the other end says “Fuck, you weren’t supposed to pick up, I’m-”

Steve sits upright, suddenly wide awake. “No, it’s fine, are you okay?”

“It’s nothing,” Bucky insists, “go back to sleep.”

“No way in hell,” Steve says firmly. “If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be calling me at three in the morning. What’s wrong?”

There’s a long minute of silence; Steve has to stop himself from picking at threads in his sheets. “I couldn’t sleep,” Bucky admits at last. “I was having… y’know, bad dreams and stuff. God, that sounds so lame. And I wanted to hear your voice. Although I’m not planning on talking about my feelings or dreams, so don’t even bother.”

Steve’s heart does a slow somersault inside his chest. “What do you want to talk about?” he says carefully.

More silence. Steve has all but given up on getting an answer when Bucky at last mutters, “Baseball?”

Steve settles into his bed. “Yeah, all right. What d’you think of the Dodgers’ lineup this year?”

It’s nearly two hours later when Steve realizes that Bucky isn’t answering his questions. If he listens closely, he can hear breathing on the other end of the line, slow and easy. Like sleep.

Steve hangs up quietly, smiling, and curls back up in his sheets.

5.

“I’ve gathered you today,” Natasha says imperiously, “to talk about prom.”

“Absolutely not,” Bucky answers, and goes back to picking at the wilted lettuce that the school system is calling salad.

“You don’t have a choice,” Nat argues. “I’m nominated for court, and there’s no way in hell you guys aren’t coming to back me up.”

“You’re nominated for prom queen?” Steve asks, trying not to sound the smallest bit starstruck. “Congratulations, Nat, that’s great!”

“Can we get a group together?” Sam says, leaning forward. “Because - you guys know about Carol and Jess, right?” At this everyone nods; Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew are dating, and everyone at the school is happy for them. “Jess says their parents don’t know, and they wouldn’t approve, so I was thinking, we’ve got three strapping, all-American boys-”

“I don’t think I qualify as all-American,” Bucky points out.

“Two Americans and a perfectly nice Russian-American,” Sam amends. “And that’s the kind of thing their parents would like. We show up, we take pictures in boy-girl pairs, and then as soon as we’re at school they can do what they want.”

“Clint Barton’s taking me,” Natasha adds, settling back in her chair. “So that makes seven people. We need one more, nobody goes solo.”

“Sharon Carter,” Steve suggests without thinking. “She was saying in chemistry last month she’d go with friends, and we count as friends.”

“So everyone’s in?” Sam says, and by mutual agreement they all turn to Bucky.

He stares at them before sighing. “Carol… already kind of roped me into this, I was just saying no so I didn’t have to tell you guys I was going with somebody else.”

“You were going to go with Carol but not us?” Steve nudges Bucky with his shoulder. “I’m wounded.”

“She needed help,” Bucky says simply.

Steve grins. “Okay, well. I can forgive that, then.”

“Well,” Natasha says easily, sitting back in her chair. “That settles that.”

6.

“Remember when you had severe asthma?” Bucky remarks idly, eyeing Steve through his safety goggles. “And you couldn’t be in the same room as someone wearing too much perfume? What happened to that?”

Steve shrugs, setting down his beaker of lightly-smoking liquid. “I volunteered for some experimental drug testing. Got rid of the worst of it.”

“You _what,_ ” Bucky says flatly, and it’s probably a really bad moment for Steve to remember that Bucky’s grandmother died from complications caused by an experimental drug.

“Um,” Steve answers intelligently. “I’m fine?”

“Jesus, Rogers,” Bucky mutters, and Steve feels a stab of guilt for no particular reason.

“I mean,” he says desperately, trying to save the situation, “given how much Axe some of the kids here wear, I couldn’t-”

“Bullshit,” Bucky retorts, but there’s no heat behind it. “At least tell me it was worth it, yeah?”

“It was worth it,” Steve answers immediately.

Bucky nods. “Good.”

“That beaker shouldn’t be smoking,” Mr. McCoy says from behind them. Bucky curses under his breath.

7.

“All right, gentlemen!” Sam claps his hands together. “Let’s check out your tuxes.”

“This is ridiculous,” Bucky says from one dressing room over. “Does it really matter what we wear?”

“It’s prom, Barnes, of course it matters.” Sam sounds insulted.

“I’m going with a lesbian, does it still matter?”

“You don’t want to make Carol look bad in front of her parents, do you?”

Steve steps out of his dressing room, feeling incredibly self-conscious. The tuxedo feels like it fits him fine, and it looks fine on him, and he feels fancy enough for prom. “Good?” he asks Sam.

“See, Rogers got it together!” Sam says pleadingly. “He looks smokin’ hot, now let’s get you out here.”

“What the hell happened to solidarity, Steve?” Bucky mutters, but comes out of the dressing room anyways.

Steve can feel his mouth go dry. Bucky looks… really, really good. Bucky is staring right back at him, almost dazed before offering a crooked smile and a “Lookin’ good, Rogers.”

“Yeah, you too, Buck,” Steve says, because Bucky’s suit has a really good silhouette, and the black is striking against his skin, and his hair is in a ponytail and out of his face, and Steve is pretty sure that he is, in fact, in love with his best friend.

Sam looks between the two of them and, for whatever reason, rolls his eyes. “All right, you’re both good. Let’s go get ties.”

“Ties,” Bucky repeats.

“Sounds good,” Steve says faintly.

Sam rolls his eyes again.

8.

“Are you disappointed about prom?” Steve asks before he can stop himself. He and Bucky are halfway to Bucky’s apartment building - they normally walk home together, and if he can help it, Steve will never tell Bucky that he lives a mile in the opposite direction.

“Disappointed?” Bucky repeats. “What, that I’m going?”

“No, that you’re going with Carol.” He shrugs. “I mean, it’s great of you and Sam to do this for her and Jess, don’t get me wrong. But was there… someone else you wanted to go with?”

“Prom is tomorrow, Steve-o. Not like I can change my mind.”

“I know,” Steve says quickly. “Forget I asked, I’m just being nosy-”

“There was someone else,” Bucky says, and Steve very deliberately does not change his pace, even though he wants to stop dead on the sidewalk. “They’re going with a date, but I think it’s just as friends.”

“They?” Steve asks without thinking.

Bucky glances at him, then at his feet. “He.”

“His loss,” Steve answers, shrugging. _My gain,_ he does not say out loud.

Bucky snorts. “I don’t even know if he likes guys, I’m just totally gone for him.” He stops; it takes Steve a second to realize that they’re in front of Bucky’s building. “Have been since we were kids.”

It takes a minute for Steve to process that. He and Bucky had been best friends as kids, of course, and they still are, and now - now what? Is Steve supposed to just assume that Bucky’s talking about him?

“I know the feeling,” he answers without thinking. Bucky is watching him, with a strange little half-smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Steve,” he murmurs, starting towards his building, and Steve suddenly realizes that Bucky was absolutely talking about him.

Shit.

9.

“Steven Grant Rogers, there’d better be a good reason you’re calling me while I’m getting my toes done.”

“I think I’m in love with Bucky,” Steve says.

“Well, yeah,” Nat replies, sounding confused. “Didn’t you know that?”

“I think I’m in love with Bucky and I’m pretty sure he also likes me and I’m really not sure what to do with that.”

Nat sighs, sounding terribly fond. “You dumb boys. It’s three hours until we see each other, and then it’s prom. The ultimate high school cliche. You’ll work it out.”

“How do you know?” Steve demands.

“Because he just called me saying the same thing.” Nat laughs at Steve’s stunned silence. “I’ve gotta go, I’m about to get my mani. See you tonight.”

10.

Prom is a dream. Steve always knew it would be, but it’s even better than he could’ve imagined. The moment they all got to the dance, Carol and Jess had gravitated towards each other, and Steve hasn’t seen them apart from each other since. Sharon had gone to another group of her friends, waving goodbye as she went. He’d cheered for Nat when she’s won prom queen, of course, and Sam had been dancing with anyone and everyone.

And Bucky.

“Dance with me, Buck,” Steve had said, without thinking, something like ten minutes ago. He hadn’t really given Bucky a choice - he’d grabbed his hand and pulled him out on the dance floor, and he hasn’t let go.

“You know I was talking about you, right?” Bucky yells over the music. Everyone around them is jumping, and sort of writhing, and Steve’s not really sure if it counts as dancing, but he’ll accept it.

“Yeah,” Steve yells back. “And I feel the same way about you.”

“Okay, good,” Bucky says, “because I don’t want to feel guilty.” And he grabs Steve’s shoulders and hauls him in and kisses him. And it’s perfect - hot and wet and sweet and Bucky, and that makes it better, unspeakably better.

“We’re pretty stupid, you know,” Steve laughs, and Bucky kisses him again. “And a giant cliche, getting together at prom.”

“No better place,” Bucky points out. “Now, c’mon. Let’s keep dancing.”

And they do.


End file.
